Get in the Van is a memoir by singer, writer and spoken word artist Henry Rollins first published in 1994 by Rollins' own company, 2.13.61 Publications. The book is composed of journal entries that Rollins kept while he was lead singer of the band Black Flag from 1981 to its breakup in 1986. Other text includes recollections of times when he had yet to start, or had lapsed in, his journal-keeping. Sections of the book were read and recorded by Rollins and released as a 2-CD set, which won a Grammy in 1995 for Best Spoken Word Album.
Full of lots of great photos and flyers and journal entries from Henry. Not something I could read cover to cover, though some interesting snippets of life on the road.
I'm slightly mixed on this one. As a document of Black Flag and the punk scene of the early 80s, it is pretty fascinating (about 1/3 of the text). For a few years, Black Flag really did play everywhere all the time. Stretches of 100 shows over 100 days is totally insane. It is amazing that the band made it that long, when they were in actuality sleeping on top of each other in the van every night.
But in some ways, that's the only time Rollins is alive. About 1/3 of the book is written during his time off in LA (when he was living in the tool shed in Greg Ginn's backyard) and he seems to go crazy with the idleness. It is only when they are back on tour, that he comes to life. Although, he does seem to be to thrive on the pain of the …
I'm slightly mixed on this one. As a document of Black Flag and the punk scene of the early 80s, it is pretty fascinating (about 1/3 of the text). For a few years, Black Flag really did play everywhere all the time. Stretches of 100 shows over 100 days is totally insane. It is amazing that the band made it that long, when they were in actuality sleeping on top of each other in the van every night.
But in some ways, that's the only time Rollins is alive. About 1/3 of the book is written during his time off in LA (when he was living in the tool shed in Greg Ginn's backyard) and he seems to go crazy with the idleness. It is only when they are back on tour, that he comes to life. Although, he does seem to be to thrive on the pain of the road because of sadomasochism, self loathing, and an overly active work ethic (maybe why he lasted much longer than the others with workaholic Greg Ginn). He spends pages and pages cutting himself, thrilling in the violence of conflict with audiences, then hiding from them so he doesn't have to interact with them.
About 1/3 of this was also pretty terrible. Long sections of violent fantasies and hated (self and otherwise) which I mostly just skimmed over.
At the end of this, I think I probably like Rollins less than I did before I started but I did enjoy learning lots more about this era of music.
